Obakki Collaborates with Five South Sudanese Models

ELLE.com meets the five new faces of the brand and talks modeling, South Sudan, and more.

ELLE.com meets the five new faces of the brand and talks modeling, South Sudan, and more.

1 of 11

Elizabeth Griffin

Treana Peake

"I don't know when or how my interest—really, my obsession—with Sudan started," says Obakki designer Treana Peake. "Some girls dream of going to the Oscars. But even though I'd never been there, I dreamed of Sudan. It was my inspiration, it was my mission… it was my emotional soundtrack."

Seven years after Peake created her label, she's helped build over 300 wells in The Republic of South Sudan—a newly-formed country that's hopeful, but scarred from years of brutal war crimes.

2 of 11

Elizabeth Griffin

Fall 2012

This season, the Canadian designer recruited brand ambassadors directly linked to her label—a group of fashion models who hail from the African country. ELLE.com went behind-the-scenes at Peake's Manhattan showroom to get an exclusive glimpse of Obakki's fashion video shoot—and to interview five of the line's new faces.

3 of 11

Elizabeth Griffin

Ajak Deng

Age: 21

ELLE: How did you start modeling?

Ajak Deng: I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and my last year of high school, my teacher said, "Ajak, what are you going to do when you graduate?" I said, "I think I'd like to join the army!" I don't know why, but there was something about the uniform that I just loved. That should have been my first clue that I should go into fashion, right? So I told my school adviser that I wanted to be in the army, and she said, "Are you crazy? You're not joining the army. I'm going to send your picture around to modeling agencies—I think you're going to be a fashion model."

I didn't believe her, but she got me my first agency! My parents said, "Go for it, as long as you go back to [college] at some point." They've been really supportive about my modeling, and I really like that!

4 of 11

Elizabeth Griffin

Ajak Deng

ELLE: When did you move to Australia from Sudan?

AD: I was five when we left. All I remember is my friends crying, saying, "We're never going to see each other again." I remember my uncles and my grandmother saying the same thing. But I don't remember anything else. Now that the [political] situation has changed, it's on my to-do list to go back there. But I speak to my grandmother sometimes on the phone. She says, "It's safe to come back [to Sudan] now—you'd better come back before I die!" And I'm like, "Grandma, you've made it [through the war], you're not going to die anytime soon!" And she's speaking entirely in [the South Sudanese dialect] Dinka and I'm really struggling with it! When I go back, I'm going to bring my modeling book with me, so she can see what I do.

ELLE: When you heard about Obakki, and Treana's connection to South Sudan, what did you think?

AD: I thought it was amazing, because first of all, not everyone knows about what's happening in South Sudan. And for someone from another country to care enough about helping people there is really important. And 100 percent of her proceeds go to her charity, which is a big deal. I mean, I would wear the clothes anyway—they're really comfortable, and they're sexy without being too revealing, you know?

5 of 11

Elizabeth Griffin

Mari Malek

Age: 27

ELLE: When people ask where you're from, what do you say?

Mari Malek: I say I was born in the Mau Village of South Sudan, but I have been living in New York City for the past six years. Before that, I was with my family in California, going to school and stuff. My family came to America from South Sudan in 1998—so I was in my early teens. We came here as refugees, and we were sponsored through a Catholic charity to come to Newark. But Newark was horrible—it was even crazier than Sudan! And it was too cold for my mom. So we found our relatives in San Diego and moved there. That's where we started our lives all over.

In the beginning, I wasn't happy—I felt like an outcast, and a lot of the kids made fun of my dark skin and because I didn't speak English. I only knew how to say "What's your name?" and "Okay." So in the beginning, I would only say "Okay" to the kids at school! But I learned fast. I think I learned so quickly because as Africans, part of our culture is that you can learn a great deal by listening to others. So I did that, and I watched everything happening around me.

6 of 11

Elizabeth Griffin

Mari Malek

ELLE: Do you still have family in Sudan?

MM: My grandmother, my father, and my siblings. I have over 20 brothers and sisters! When we had holidays back home, I remember my father used to rent a bus for us, so we can all go somewhere at once! [Laughing.] That's what I remember about Sudan, riding around in a family bus! My dad had three wives—my mom was the third wife, so I'm one of the youngest children. But she was very independent, and she didn't want us to live that life anymore. She wanted her daughters to have a future and an education. We couldn't stay there and get an arranged marriage—that's still how it works, unfortunately for some girls. But thank God it's getting better now. Things are changing.

ELLE: Before you became a model, did you go to college?

MM: I did. I have a degree in accounting. I'd like to go back to college after modeling and finish my degree in psychology, too. I'm very interested in the human mind and how it works—and I want to counsel kids that are young teens, because that was the time in my life when I was going through the roughest time! And I also have a nonprofit for my country, called Southern Sudan Initiatives. We help [build] water wells, too, plus education and agriculture. I want to bring self-sufficiency back to South Sudan.

ELLE: Anything else?

MM: I'm a DJ! I go by the name DJ Stiletto.

7 of 11

Elizabeth Griffin

Atong Arjok

Age: 27

ELLE: You grew up in California. Do you remember South Sudan at all?

Atong Arjok: I do, actually. I remember the rivers. But we moved to Ethiopia when I was one, then we moved back to South Sudan, then we had to go to Kenya. I didn't get to America until I was nine. It sounds cool to have lived so many places, but the circumstances were not cool at all. It was very dangerous.

ELLE: What kinds of questions do people ask you when they find out you're from Sudan?

AA: The first question is always "Oh, Sudan? Which island is that?" And no, Sudan is not an island. It's a country in Africa. Then people go, "Oh, did you live in the jungle?" There's no jungle in Sudan. Then, "Do you have a pet lion?" No. And then, "Are you a queen?" I guess I should answer "yes" to that one, just for fun. But people don't usually know anything about Sudan!

ELLE: What should we know?

AA: Number one, Sudan is not an island! And now they need to know that Sudan is two different countries, and because we have Arab influences and Nilotic influences, we're diverse. The North is Arab, the South is Nilotic, and we have so many dialects. People ask, "Oh, do you speak Sudanese?" But there's no such thing as Sudanese, it's not a language. I guess what I'd really want people to know is how rich our culture is, and how deep and diverse it is. Look it up, and try to know a little bit about us. But don't just focus on the negative side of Sudan. War brought a lot of sadness, but we really are a happy people. We believe in community. You have to help the next person, and the next person has to help you.

ELLE: How long have you been modeling?

AA: Since I was fifteen. I went to a modeling convention in California, and I got signed by a Los Angeles agent. I was really hesitant to become a model, but my mom really encouraged me to try it.

ELLE: What was your first modeling job?

AA: It was in the middle of the California desert. I was still in high school, and they gave me big hair and red lipstick. At first, I thought it was so fun to dress up, like, "No way, this counts as work?" But then as the shoot went on, it got very hot, and very tiring. It was not glamorous. And it made me hate red lipstick. I hardly wear any makeup now because of that!

8 of 11

Elizabeth Griffin

Ajang Majok

Age: 26

ELLE: When you walked into the photo shoot, everybody—not just the models, but the makeup artist, the publicist—screamed your name. How does everyone know you?

Ajang Majok: Besides being a model, I'm the hostess at Miss Lily's, the Jamaican restaurant in Soho. My favorite thing there is the peanut butter and blueberry jelly smoothie. It's so good.

ELLE: How long have you been in New York?

AM: Only a year. I grew up in South Sudan; we left in 2001. First we went to Egypt, and we stayed there for three years. We got to America in 2004.

ELLE: Tell us something you can't know about Sudan from the pictures.

AM: The life there is beautiful. The people are beautiful, the land is beautiful. Everybody's friendly, and you're free to do whatever you can. When I close my eyes and think of Sudan, I see green grass and green trees, and the food you buy in markets in America is in your backyard in Sudan. Where I grew up, we had corn in the yard, and a mango tree outside the house. But yes, the war was a struggle. My mother got very sick during the war, and we got a chance to come here. We knew it would be better.

9 of 11

Elizabeth Griffin

Ajang Majok

ELLE: How did you become a model?

AM: I always wanted to be a model. Even before I knew what the word was in English. And when I got to high school in Virginia, you know those famous guys in high school? They're so mean in the cafeteria, they're so cute and famous? That guy at my high school was a model. I was the new girl, and to me, "model" was something you make —like a model car? So people would say, "Oh, you look like a model" and I thought they were saying something bad about me! So the guy was like, "Are you a model? Do you want to model?" I didn't understand him, and the girls in school had to explain what was going on. I was happy when I figured out what it meant!

ELLE: Why did you decide to become an Obakki ambassador?

AM: When I heard about how Treana was building wells, I got very excited. I remember when we lived in Africa, water was always a big problem. It was really nice to find out someone was trying to help solve a problem that I'd struggled with as a child.

10 of 11

Elizabeth Griffin

Nyamuoch ("Nah-moy") Girwath

Age: 22

ELLE: What were you doing before modeling?

Nyamuoch Girwath: I was in college. I'm from Omaha, Nebraska! I had an awesome life there—farm life, and baseball, and we have an awesome zoo. It's one of the best zoos in the country—look us up!

ELLE: How are you connected to South Sudan?

NG: I've never actually been to Sudan because my parents fled the war there before I was born. They walked with my baby sister from South Sudan to Ethiopia. I was born in a refugee camp there, and from the refugee camp, we walked to Kenya. Then we came to America when I was four. I don't remember anything myself, so for me, I know Sudan through my parents. They talk about it a lot, but they try to only talk about the happy times. They didn't want to tell me the sad things that happened to them, I think because they didn't want to go back to that sad place emotionally. But they tell me awesome stories about Sudan prior to the war. My mom had a lot of dogs, and she got to help her brothers with the cattle, because they had a farm. When I was little, I thought that sounded so fun. But one sad story she did tell me was about how they had to cross a river in Ethiopia during a really bad storm. She almost drowned, and a boy she didn't even know helped her carry me. My dad wasn't around then, because he was fighting in the war. But the happy times they tell me about are what make me feel most connected to Sudan.

11 of 11

Elizabeth Griffin

Nyamuoch Girwath

ELLE: Was it strange for your parents to see Sudan, and the war, on the news?

NG: I think it was most strange for them to have a daughter who only knew about Sudan the way any other American kid does—because the war is on TV. They're like, "No, Nyamuoch, we were happy! We had our family, we had our animals, we had our life." Even if I haven't set foot there, it's still my home. It's just waiting for me.

ELLE: What do your parents think about you modeling for Obakki?

NG: My mom thinks it's great. She was so happy when South Sudan gained its independence last year, and she told me, "I'm glad you're working with Obakki because it's good to stand for something. Your generation is the one that needs to be involved in helping Sudan because you're going to be the ones who go back." It was awesome that she shared that feeling with me.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
ELLE participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.